The EU should abolish the right of individual Member States to veto foreign policy measures and the Union could not allow itself to be "held hostage", German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.

Hungary appeared to backtrack on plans to build a Chinese university in Budapest after thousands took to the streets at the weekend against it, news wires reported. PM Viktor Orban opponents accuse his governmemnt that the planned $2bn campus could undercut the quality of higher education and help Beijing increase its influence within Hungary and the EU.

Slovakia became the second country in the EU after Hungary to start inoculating citizens with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine on Monday, news wires reported. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has yet to approve the vector vaccine, but Slovakia has begun to roll out the jab, despite extensive internal debate. Hungary has also started using Sputnik V.

Four more Italian regions turned into Covid low-risk white zones on Monday, meaning most restrictions on commercial activities were lifted there, ANSA reported. Abruzzo, Liguria, Umbria and Veneto joined Friuli, Molise and Sardinia on the lowest restrictions list. Higher Health Institute (ISS) chief Silvio Brusaferro said last week that if the current infection curve drop continues, all regions will turn white by mid-June.

Spain opens its borders to vaccinated travellers from all over the world on Monday, hoping an influx of visitors will revitalise its tourism sector which has been hit by Covid-19 pandemic. "Spain is a safe destination," Health Minister Carolina Darias said, cited by AFP. Non-vaccinated Europeans, who can currently enter Spain with a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours, will from Monday be able to take a cheaper antigen test instead.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives scored a better-than-forecast win in a key state election on Sunday, helping to set the stage for the national ballot in about three months, dpa reported. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) under Premier Reiner Haseloff in the small eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt secured 36% of the vote, representing a hefty 6.2% plus since the last election in 2016, according to public television poll projections.

Italy’s former PM Giuseppe Conte won a key legal battle related to the leadership of the ruling 5-Star Movement, Reuters reported. The movement has been torn by internal rows. However Conte's win paves the way for decisive revival of the party. Conte agreed to take the reins of 5-Star after his coalition government was sacked in February, but his plans to relaunch the struggling group have been delayed by a bitter dispute with the firm that provided its internet platform.

Germany expects the outcome of regional elections in the Eastern province Saxony-Anhalt held on Sunday. The results will have great influence of the expected national elections in September, Reuters reported. Depending on the outcome, the vote may pave a victorious way for Armin Laschet in his bid to succeed Angela Merkel as leader of the ruling German right wing Christian Democrats (CDU).

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has signed a 15-year gas supply agreement with Russian energy group Gazprom to take effect as soon as its existing deal expires in September, he said on Thursday.

The European Commission is set to launch an infringement procedure against Italy over a media law potentially curbing Vivendi's interests in the country, Reuters reported citing newspaper la Repubblica on Friday. The Commission in December raised questions over the validity of the law approved by Rome in November which allowed national communications regulator AGCOM to start a probe into Vivendi's Italian assets to evaluate whether these holdings are harmful to media plurality.